BARRON, Wis. _ The young man accused of fatally shooting Jayme Closs' parents in their western Wisconsin home and holding their 13-year-old daughter captive for nearly three months first spotted the teen by chance as she boarded her school bus one morning and "knew that was the girl he was going to take," according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.
And yet Jake T. Patterson took extraordinary measures to plan and execute his crimes, the charges revealed, later telling police he assumed he got away with his deed.
Patterson, 21, was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, kidnapping and armed burglary in connection with the killings and abduction in the early hours of Oct. 15 at the Closs home on the outskirts of town.
A jailed Patterson appeared Monday afternoon via video hookup in Barron County District Court, where he heard the charges against him in connection with the deaths of James and Denise Closs and the abduction of Jayme, who sought help along a road near Gordon upon escape.
Judge James Babler agreed with the prosecution and set bail at $5 million for Patterson, pointing out the seriousness of the charges, the prospect of spending life in prison if convicted and the great lengths the defendant went to to conceal the crimes while a fugitive. The defense requested an unspecified lesser amount.
Decked in full jail orange, Patterson sat at a table with a member of his defense team to his right and the charging document in front of him over the nine-minute hearing and answered every question from the judge calmly and with full understanding. He sat with his hands folded at his waist, adjusting his glasses and rubbing his face.
Prosecutors also said Monday afternoon that additional charges based on unspecified allegations could be coming out of Douglas County, where the Patterson property is located, before the defendant is back in Barron County Circuit Court in Barron on Feb. 6.
The charges say Patterson confessed to the crimes under law enforcement questioning a few hours after his capture.
Jayme remained a secret captive _ even as Patterson's father and others visited _ until she escaped Thursday afternoon from his home near Gordon about an hour north of Barron.
Patterson was arrested in his car shortly afterward, not far from the home where he allegedly held Jayme.
"I did it," Patterson said as he stepped out of the car, the complaint read. Authorities say they believe he was looking for her at the time he was pulled over.
The charges say Patterson also told authorities the night of his capture that as he drove to his job at Saputo Cheese Factory in a nearby town, he stopped behind a school bus on Hwy. 8 and saw Jayme board. He didn't know who she was, nor did he know anything about her or her family.
For some reason, "when he saw (Jayme), he knew that was the girl he was going to take," the criminal complaint read. Barron County Attorney Brian Wright said after Monday's court hearing that he's not ready to say more about what drew Patterson to Jayme.
The complaint spells out many other newly disclosed details stretching from immediately after Patterson's actions that night and over the course of the nearly three months that he kept Jayme in the home.
Jayme told investigators that at one point in her captivity, Patterson hit her forcefully in the back with a hard object, but the court filing notes no other type of physical assault. Any future charges in Douglas County, as suggested Monday by District Attorney Mark Fruehauf, could reveal otherwise.
The charges also don't reveal a reason that Patterson was drawn to Jayme to the point that he felt compelled to break into the family's home and shoot her parents once each in the head with a blast from his father's shotgun. The complaint states that he didn't know the names of his victims until after he abducted Jayme.
It alleges, however, that he kept coming back to the home in the days leading up to the abduction intent on grabbing Jayme, carrying out the deed on his third visit, once he felt the scene was quiet enough.
The charges also describe the attention he paid to certain details in hopes of not getting caught: shaving his head and face to avoid leaving DNA at the Closs house, donning gloves and wiping off fingerprints ahead of time from the gun _ he chose this particular model because of its popularity _ and its ammunition. He also put stolen license plates on his car, disabled the dome light inside his car and removed the trunk's light.
Jayme told an investigator one day after her escape that her dog woke her on the night of the killings, and she woke her parents, according to the complaint. Her father went to the door, while she and her mother hid in a bathroom. Jayme heard a gunshot and knew her father was dead.
The complaint states that Denise Closs called 911 from the bathroom, where Patterson, dressed in dark clothing and masked, broke down the door and told the mother to put down the phone. Denise and Jayme were in the tub, mother bear-hugging her daughter. Denise taped Jayme's mouth as ordered by Patterson, and he then shot Denise Closs in the head, the charges say.
Jayme told investigators that Patterson taped her hands and ankles together, dragged her to his car and put her in the trunk. His time in the home: no more than four minutes.
Moments after Patterson drove away, she said, she heard at least two squad cars with their sirens wailing pass by.
Patterson said during his interview with authorities that he yielded as three squads raced by, Jayme in the trunk and the shotgun by his side. Patterson told police he likely would have shot at police if he were stopped.
The car, Jayme told investigators, later arrived at Patterson's home outside Gordon, where he ordered her into the house and collected all her clothes, explaining that he was worried about leaving evidence.
As Patterson's father and others came and went over the course of Jayme's captivity, Patterson kept her under a bed in a corner of his bedroom. He stacked tote bins and laundry baskets with exercise weights around the bed to keep her imprisoned. He'd turn on loud music at times to keep Jayme from being heard by others.
If anyone did hear her, she recalled, Patterson warned her that "bad things" would happen. Some periods under the 2 {-foot space between the bed and the floor would last up to 12 hours with no food, water or bathroom breaks, according to the complaint.
On the day she escaped, Jayme said, Patterson told her he was going out for five to six hours and ordered her to stay under the bed. Once he left, she pushed away the weighted containers, put on a pair of his shoes and ran outside. A woman walking her dog encountered the girl moments later and led her to safety.
Patterson's attorneys, Charles Glynn and Richard Jones, issued a statement the day after his arrest calling the case "a very tragic situation."
It went on to read: "There is a substantial amount of information, interest, and emotion involved in this case. Mr. Patterson's legal team will be relying on the integrity of our judicial system to ensure that everyone's rights are protected and respected."
Authorities on Sunday opened the road to Patterson's home, which was mostly hidden by trees. Several snow-covered cars sat in the driveway leading to the two-story brown and tan home with a nearby garage and shed.
On Friday, Jayme was released from a Duluth hospital and returned to the Barron home of her aunt, Jennifer Smith, who has since posted photos of a smiling Jayme on the "Healing for Jayme Closs" Facebook page.
Fitzgerald said Patterson has no criminal history in Wisconsin or the Gordon area and "was not on our radar."
Patterson's ties to Barron include working at the same Jennie-O store in Barron where the Closs' were employed until their deaths. However, that was roughly three years ago, Patterson worked there less than two days, and there's no indication they came to know each other during that overlap nearly three years ago.
